


A Call to Arms

by RandomFlyer



Series: The Exploration Series [2]
Category: Danny Phantom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Danny's older and in college, Dumbledore knows a potential ally when he sees one, Exploration series, Gen, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), and exploring the ghost zone!, basically an excuse for me to write crossovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22686622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomFlyer/pseuds/RandomFlyer
Summary: What do you do when you're asked to join a war for a people not your own in a completely different world?
Series: The Exploration Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1315808
Comments: 43
Kudos: 323





	1. A New World

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first story I wrote in the Exploration Series even though it happens after Traveling Advice. This series is probably going to be written out of order, but I'll try to make it clear at what point it's happening.

**Chapter 1: A New World**

The landing from the portal was less than gentle but Danny had experience with rough landings. The thick green grass he rolled onto was like a mattress compared to being thrown into concrete and asphalt, as what usually happened during ghost fights.

Brushing off bits of moss, grass, and dirt, Danny made a slow turn and surveyed the area for threats. He was in a forest glade, idealic in its bright streams of sunlight, thick carpet of moss and grass, and ancient trees with dark gnarled limbs. Birdsong echoed around him after the initial shock of his sudden appearance wore off. When nothing attacked or threatened him, Danny turned to the portal. It hung almost invisible a few yards above the ground, high enough so nothing but birds could wander through by accident, but low enough to get to with ease. The only clue that it was even there was a rippling of the air and if you looked at just the right angle you could see the faintest green shimmer bleeding through from the Ghost Zone.

Danny set down his pack and pulled out his portal gun, a less hostile, smaller, and more versatile version of his parents’ ecto-bazooka. Unlike the bazooka, the portal gun was geared entirely around detecting, measuring, and hopefully reopening portals into the Ghost Zone. Due to its reduced size, more the size of handheld vacuum cleaner than a full sized bazooka, its ability to reopen a portal depended entirely on latent energy from the original portal. Which was why getting an accurate reading on when the portal would close was so important. He’d already taken one reading before coming through from the Ghost Zone, now a second reading was to confirm the first.

Danny leveled the gun, for lack of a better term, to the invisible portal above and measured the decay rate for the energy. In theory, it should give him an approximate time when the portal would close. The display screen flickered, threatening to shut to off. Danny frowned and hit the side of the device. He wasn't quite at the level of technical knowledge as his parents or Tucker, but to be fair he'd mostly only had to piece together bits from his parents' other inventions. He was familiar enough with their work to accomplish that. Still, there was something in the display that kept shorting out and he really needed to get it fixed. The display gave one last flicker and popped up bright again. He had around seventy hours from now give or take a few before the portal closed. Danny set the timer on his watch, then marked the portal’s location on the gun’s internal map.

Pausing for the portal reading also gave Danny a chance to make sure he wasn't followed. While unlikely, it was possible a random ghost could follow him and cause havoc in this world. More likely than that, he'd have to check that a certain ghost puppy with a protective streak didn't track Danny through the Zone. Since the beginning of Danny's expeditions, Cujo had taken to following Danny even if that meant following through various portals to play with his favorite halfa.

It was simultaneously touching and annoying. Danny had always wanted a puppy but his parents’ many dangerous experiments going on in the house made it difficult to own any pet, much less one as inquisitive as a puppy. However, Cujo had terrible timing and could just as easily cause problems wherever he went, case and point: Valarie aka the Red Huntress. This time, though, the enthusiastic puppy seemed to be somewhere else.

When Cujo failed to make an appearance after several minutes, Danny figured he was in the clear by way of unexpected tag-alongs. He stowed his equipment, placing all electronics out of sight at the bottom of his pack, and set off flying invisible to a good height to see the area. Seventy hours was plenty of time to take a look around and see some sights.

Danny had started his self-imposed mission to explore the Ghost Zone only a couple months previously. At just over eighteen years old and drowning in boredom at the local community college he'd managed to get into despite his suffering grade average, Danny needed a pastime that did not involve homework. The ghosts had largely died down from their constant harassment of the human world during the first couple years of Danny's powers and there were more ghost hunters than ever before so the town hardly needed him anymore. When it came down to choosing between homework, contemplating his largely blank plan for the future, or exploring the Ghost Zone on an increasingly regular basis, Danny didn't really consider it a contest.

The woods stretched out for miles in every direction, thick, green, and lush. It had the packed density associate with ancient forests which meant at the very least Danny wasn’t in the Midwest anymore. Off in the distance there seemed to be a building, rising up over the trees. Danny smiled, he’d started these expeditions to go exploring, discover new things, so he pointed himself toward the building and shot off at a quick pace.

As Danny neared the structure, his curiosity turned into delight. He had found a castle. Even if he had tried he wouldn’t have been able to suppress the wide excited smile spreading across his face. Everyone loved a good castle.

Danny flew lower, dipping down so he could weave between the spires and their fluttering banners. This was a no-kidding, real life, castle, he said to himself grinning as broad as ever. It didn't look like one of those touristy places, no ticketing booths or outdoor attractions. There didn't even seem to be any modern conveniences, no modifications to the outside for gas, electricity, indoor plumbing. Perhaps, the portal he’d gone through not only went to a different location spatially, but also lead to a different time. It was completely possible after all and Danny had experienced the Ghost Zone or another ghost's ability to jump between times on more than one occasion. His first trek exploring with the portal gun took him far into the future.

Diving down into one of the walls, Danny phased into the building to get a better look. The halls looked just as old, but still used. They were filled with carpets and paintings, suits of armor and display cases lined all alone the walls. Flying around the corridors, Danny came out to a large stairwell with multiple stair cases crisscrossing to different floors.

Initially, he was going to fly past and continue his exploration, but then Danny skidded to a stop mid-air as he realized something about the staircases. Looking, then looking away, closing and rubbing his eyes, then looking back did not change the fact that the staircases were moving, gliding along to attach and disconnect from other staircases and platforms with the smooth rhythm of a silent symphony. Glancing around once again, Danny realized it was not just the staircases that were moving when they weren't supposed to, the portraits were also moving, or at least their inhabitants were. Danny floated closer to one large painting and observed the subject fast asleep with his chest rising and falling with each gentle puff of breath. Other portraits were not so subtle, some of them were looking at Danny openly, whispering behind their hands. A couple even left their frames only to appear in another to whisper to the occupants in that painting.

Danny stared, eyes wide. These paintings weren't digital images, they were actual canvas works. Observing other aspects of the castle, including partially living suits of armor, dustpans that moved on their own, and mirrors that spoke to him as he went past, Danny could only come to one conclusion. This was not just a castle, this was a MAGIC castle.

Danny’s parents would have scoffed at the notion of magic, like what you found in story books, but Danny had seen far too many examples of magic, real magic, from his dealings with ghosts and the Ghost Zone to doubt it.

Danny flew through the corridors more excited than ever, but also a little confused. The castle was huge, fully furnished, and also recently inhabited, by all evidence, yet there wasn’t a soul to be seen. It was only late afternoon, possibly early evening, according to the slanting position of the sun outside, a noticeable time difference from Danny’s own world. It would be nighttime by now back home.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a red jet of energy shot out of nowhere knocking Danny to the floor. He spun around throwing up a shield just in time to block another jet of red light as he frantically searched for his attacker. Danny cursed himself for his own carelessness, in his glee at finding a magical castle and the lack of visible people roaming the halls he’d allowed his guard and his invisibility to drop.

Catching sight of the attacker, Danny rolled to the side taking himself out of view of the figure on the staircase. A couple jets of red light splashed against the stone wall just as Danny moved behind the cover. Fading invisible and intangible, Danny floated up and out to get a better look at who attacked him. The person was a man, with black hair and a strange combination of normal clothes underneath a set of elaborate robes.

“Here!” the man called, his accent definitely British. “I found the intruder over here!”

Moments later, footsteps heralded several more people joining the man on the stairs. Cautiously and with skill Danny could only associate with intimate familiarity with the battlefield, the man and his new companions moved down the stairs. They held short wooden sticks out in front of them like weapons, probably magic wands, Danny thought, and failed to suppress another grin despite the dangerous situation.

The grin dropped when one of the magicians, upon discovering Danny wasn’t just around the corner cast some sort of spell that moved out like an expanding dome from the person and forced Danny out of invisibility.

“Ack!” Danny yelped and dodged back up the stairs being chased by more red jets of light. Really, magic was getting old, very fast.

Danny skidded to a stop when another group in similar robes came charging up the hall toward him. “Can’t we just talk about this?” Danny asked, hands up with palms out.

“We don’t negotiate with You-Know-Who’s dark creatures,” one of the people spat before aiming another attack at Danny.

Danny dodged, phasing through a stair case and putting the moving ramp of stone between himself and the group of magicians.

“No I don’t know! Who are you talking about?” Danny cried. He’d had enough experience with first encounters with people to tell him there were two ways he could handle this to get the best outcome. One would be to talk these people down, the other would be to fly away and not look back. Right now, option number two seemed his best bet and he prepared to go invisible and fly up through the ceiling.

“Hold your fire!” a new voice called. Danny looked up and saw an old man with a very long beard striding toward them. He wore srobes like the others and had a new group of people trailing behind him. “Everyone remain calm,” the man said, as the others parted to let him through.

“Just for the record, I’m not the one shooting at people,” Danny said, hands held up in innocence. “Sorry about the trespassing thing, I probably should have knocked, but there’s no need to get so hostile.”

“That will entirely depend on your actions and reasons for being here, I’m afraid,” the old man said. “If I may, who and what are you?”

Danny grinned. That was a better reaction than most of the ones he received from ghost hunters. Most of them didn’t even bother introducing themselves much less ask Danny to introduce himself, though it had been a long time since Danny had run into a ghost hunter from his world that hadn’t heard of Danny Phantom. “My name is Danny,” he said with a wave, “And I happen to be a ghost.”

Several of the robed figures scoffed. “You are no ghost,” the first man that had attacked him sneered.

“Yes, I am,” Danny countered, folding his arms over his chest. “Besides, how would you know? How many ghosts have you met before?”

“Hundreds,” the man said, with a tilt of his chin, “The castle is infected with them.”

“Really?” Danny frowned looking around the walls in speculation. His ghost sense hadn’t gone off once since he’d entered the castle. “Not sure I believe you…” Danny narrowed his eyes.

The man sputtered but the old man raised a hand to cut off whatever retort was coming. “You’ll have to forgive my friend here, Danny. We’ve never encountered a ghost resembling yourself. Almost all of our apparitions lack color and most lack the ability to interact with the physical world.”

Danny turned that thought over in his head. The description that the old man gave implied those ghosts, if they were ghosts had never set foot in the Ghost Zone and therefore had never interacted with a regular supply of ectoplasm. Putting the matter aside, he could deal with exceptionally weak ghosts at a later date, Danny turned to the old man. “You know I introduced myself, but you never did. Mind telling me where I am, too? Since I really, honestly don’t know.”

“Yes, how rude of me,” the old man said with a benign smile and an assessing stare. “My name is Albus Dumbledore and you are currently in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry of which I am Headmaster. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

It was the benign smile that did it. Danny glanced around at all the others gathered on the hallway balcony and stairwell. To the last man they had their wands out and pointed toward Danny, all except this Albus Dumbledore. Nobody reacted to a strange, possibly dangerous creature with a benign smile and no visible means to defend themselves unless they knew that could handle whatever came at them with ease. Of all the people facing him at the moment, Albus Dumbledore was the one Danny had to be careful of if an earnest fight did break out.

“So this is a magic school?” Danny asked, ill-concealed glee leaking into his voice. This was so much better than homework for his algebra class.

Dumbledore’s smile grew wider at hearing Danny’s tone and the brief glance around the stairwell and its moving staircases. “I take it you’ve never encountered wizards before, then?” It was not a question.

“Well, I’ve encountered magic,” Danny shrugged returning his attention to the magicians trying to subtly surround him. “But nothing like this.” He eyed the many wands still point in his direction, pointedly looking at the magicians moving behind him. “Not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, though.”

Dumbledore glanced around at his companions as well, noting their battle ready state. “Put your wands down. I’m sure if this young man wished to harm us, he would have had multiple opportunities to do so, considering his abilities.”

Slowly the group lowered their wands, but kept them to hand. Danny mentally shrugged. It was as good as he was going to get for the time being.

“Perhaps we could continue this conversation in a more comfortable setting.” Dumbledore gestured up the hallway in the direction from which he had appeared. “I would be very interested to know how you found yourself here.”

Danny scanned the crowd around them. Most of the other magicians still had their wands in their hands. Only a few looked like they really took this Dumbledore guy to his word about Danny and had put the wands away. The wariness was understandable, though, considering the magicians were gambling a little on Danny’s harmless intentions. Dumbledore didn’t seem too concerned. Still, the thought of putting himself in a confined area with multiple possible aggressors went against Danny’s instincts.

“I would also be willing to answer any questions you may have about our school,” Dumbledore said as added incentive, a smile hovering around his lips and a twinkle in his eye.

Danny bit his lip. Ignoring the old magician’s obvious attempt to cajole him, he did have some questions about magic, living people’s magic at least. It seemed similar to but still different from ghost magic. As long as they didn’t try to trap Danny, and Danny didn’t tell them too many details, exchanging questions and answers seemed alright. If nothing else it’d be a great story to tell Jazz, Sam, and Tucker, having a chat with a modern version of Merlin in a magical castle with a bunch of real living magicians.

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker would probably beat him black and blue for his recklessness. They already thought he was taking too many chances exploring the Ghost Zone alone. The fact that he was having a hard time taking these magicians and their pointy sticks seriously, pointed to there being some truth to that concern. Maybe he wouldn’t tell them after all.

Danny shrugged, doing his best to ooze bravado and a carefree attitude. After all, confidence was key. “Sure, no promises on answering your questions though.”

“Excellent,” Dumbledore beamed and turned back up the hallway, not bothering to check if Danny was following.

Danny did follow, maintaining intangibility, as the rest of the magicians gave him a wide birth. Murmured comments between the magicians followed Danny and he could feel their stares ranging from curious to suspicious on his back. He kept a mild expression on his face, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Up ahead he could hear one of the others whispering loudly to Dumbledore.

“Are you sure this is wise?” It was the man who had initially attacked Danny to begin with, the one who didn’t believe Danny was a ghost. “We have no idea what that thing is. What if it’s one of You-Know-Who’s minions?”

Dumbledore replied in a normal voice, loud enough for Danny and many of the others to hear. “My dear Marcus, while I may not know much about our guest. I can say with near certainty that he is not one of Voldemort’s followers.”

“So a ghost, huh?” a voice snagged Danny’s attention, drawing his gaze down to a man several years older than Danny walking closer to him than the others. He had messy black hair and glasses. A red headed woman walked on the other side of him, their hands clasped as she eyed Danny with caution. She was pregnant, Danny realized, seeing her abdomen bulging from beneath her dress.

“Yup,” Danny said ignoring the man’s clear disbelief. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me, doesn’t change the facts.”

“Hmm,” the man responded observing Danny from the corner of his eye. “James Potter,” he said by way of introduction. “And this is my wife, Lily.” He held up her hand, beaming with pride.

“Danny Phantom,” Danny replied with a grin offering his hand and dropped his intangibility.

James stopped halting the progress of their group down the hall and stared at it a moment. The others immediately surrounding them eyed the interaction with interest. More than one hand tightened around their wand. _Don’t screw this up_ , Danny thought to himself. Far too often it was minor interactions like this that determined whether he was a friend or target.

“James…” Lily breathed, her grip tightening on their claps hands.

James fixed a deliberate smile on his face and slowly took Danny’s offered hand giving it a quick shake. His eyes widened in surprise when his hand made contact with Danny’s and he stared at his own hand for a moment after the handshake was over.

“Your ghosts must be extremely weak if they can’t even become tangible,” Danny commented with a chuckle. _That’s right_ , Danny thought, _just keep being the friendly weird ghost, don’t give them any reason to think you’re dangerous and you’ll get through this no problem_.

“Depends on what you’re definition of the term ‘ghost’ is, I guess,” James said, eyeing Danny again like he was some impossible puzzle. “Maybe you’re not really a ghost but just think you are?”

Danny scoffed. “And what’re the chances of you being mistaken about the fact that you’re human?” He spun around when someone poked his leg. “Hey!”

The one poking him, another man several years older than Danny and with straight black hair, about shoulder length, and a mustache, froze before retracting his hand like a dog caught doing something they weren’t allowed.

“You’re cold like a ghost,” the man said, brows raised and lacking the intense amount of wariness the others maintained around Danny.

“Because that’s what I am, a _ghost_ ,” Danny said with a roll of his eyes. He flew after the retreating back of Dumbledore, now a dozen yards ahead of them. Though, the old man had paused to observe the small interaction.

They eventually stopped at a statue which leapt aside when Dumbledore murmured something close to it. Behind the statue was a revolving staircase which Dumbledore rode up followed by the others in their group. For the sake of space, Danny righted himself and stood on the stairs like the others, although the only ones who would get close to him were James, the man that had poked him, Lily, and another heavily scarred man in shabby clothes.

The staircase took them up to an open door which led to a circular office filled with books, whirling and spinning trinkets, and delicate machines. Danny floated several feet off the ground again, noting the window and the wall around it as a possible escape to the outside if things went sideways. Two staircases led down along either side of the wall, curving with the room. On one end, between the two staircases sat an ornate desk and behind that was a large perch with a bright gold and scarlet bird.

Danny hoped the bird was a pet phoenix. That would make the story all the more incredible and therefore unbelievable to his friends. They’d be so jealous, especially Sam.

“Is that a phoenix?” Danny asked pointing at the bird, eyes bright, even before everyone managed to cram into the room.

Dumbledore’s grin grew even wider, if possible. “Why yes, my boy. This is Fawkes.”

He probably shouldn’t press his luck, but Danny couldn’t resist. “Can I pet him? Or maybe hold him?”

Several of the people below him scoffed. Danny glanced around the group, a number of the older folks frowning in disapproval. One woman in emerald robes had a frown that spoke extensively of exactly how she felt about Danny’s undignified suggestion of petting and holding a phoenix like a common parrot. 

Dumbledore merely chuckled, “Perhaps when we’re finished.”

The room didn’t look big enough to accommodate everyone, but it did, even if it was a little cramp. Dumbledore glanced around at the crowd. “I think it might be best if we avoided overwhelming our guest all at once. Professors, you do have duties you should be attending to, am I correct?”

Numerous groans went up around the room, but almost half the people turned and filed down the stairs. The man with dark hair that took such offense to Danny’s presence glared one last time before storming out of the office.

“Never fear,” Dumbledore cheerfully called after them, “I shall inform you of any important developments.” The promise seemed to do nothing to raise the other man’s spirits as he slammed the door behind him.

When the last teacher filtered through the door only a relatively small group of people remained including the four that had been near Danny on the staircase, another extremely large man that Danny would bet was a real giant, and a grizzly man with paranoid buggy eyes that scowled at Danny.

“Well, we’re not missing this for all the magic in the world,” the man who had been poking Danny’s leg folded his arms and leaned against the desk, “I don’t care what excuse you come up with to get rid of us.”

“I wouldn’t presume to try,” Dumbledore said, he snapped his fingers and a tray with cups of hot tea appeared on the desk making Danny startled back higher into the air. “But some of them are still untested and we must be careful.”

The grizzly man in the corner nodded his head approvingly, but turned down the tea offered to him. The others in the room each took a cup, trying to pretend this was a normal social get together.

Danny noticed there wasn’t a cup for himself, no doubt in line with his claim of being a ghost. If the ghosts here were as weak as it appeared, they wouldn’t be able to eat. Danny didn’t bother correcting the headmaster, wanting to get a better feel for these people before accepting any food or drink they had to offer. His friends might think he had grown reckless, but he wasn't stupid. That one incident with the deranged zoo keeper looking for new exhibits had taught him at least one thing.

"So," Dumbledore said ignoring his own cup and with all the airs of a friendly host welcoming a new friend. His eyes seemed to twinkle twice as much close up. "What brings you to our school, Danny?"

"I'm just exploring," Danny said, maintaining his carefree attitude, though part of him didn't like being in the enclosed room with this many people. He was beginning to question his own judgment on this. Maybe he should have just run from the start. "I was out looking around and stumbled upon your castle and... Well, it's hard to resist taking a look inside a magic castle."

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, I can understand. I myself sometimes take the long route to get here through the woods or over the lake just to get a sight of her again. So that was all? Just out to explore the world?"

"It's better than homework," Danny smiled. Yup he was just a harmless student, who happened to also be a ghost, nothing to worry about here, no-sir-ree.

"So you're a student then? What are you studying?" Dumbledore asked. Now, he reminded Danny of a visit to one of those homes where the old people asked all sorts of mundane questions about the lives of young people.

"Not quite sure yet," Danny shrugged. "Do you really teach magic here? Teach people how to be magicians?"

Dumbledore chuckled, like an old grandfather. He didn't fool Danny for one moment. This guy was dangerous. "We do teach magic, but the correct terms are witch and wizard. Magician is more closely associated with the Muggle profession of creating illusions and misdirection."

"Muggle?" Danny asked, trying to keep his eyes on the old man with everyone else in sight. The room had too many interesting things to examine.

"It's our term for non-magic people," Dumbledore said, then with a wider smile, “If you’re curious about anything in the room, feel free to ask.”

Danny forced his wandering attention on the conversation. "So magic…it's something you've either got or haven't got?" Danny clarified with a frown. He had always thought anyone could wield magic, so long as they had the correct artifact or knowledge.

Dumbledore nodded, "A person is either born with the ability to use magic, or they are not. The extent of their ability is both a matter of natural talent and determination to learn. Make no mistake, a person with a great deal of natural talent will not necessarily become more skilled than someone willing to push themselves."

Danny checked his other impressions of the old man. Dumbledore was definitely a school teacher, however powerful he may be. "That's what my teacher used to say," Danny muttered thinking of Mr. Lancer.

Dumbledore smiled in return, then continued the conversation. "I take it from your accent that you are from America. How did you get here precisely?"

Danny hesitated a moment. This was where it got tricky. He didn't want to give these magi... wizards more information than was safe. After all, who knows what the wrong wizard entering into the Ghost Zone could do? Then Danny would have to be the one to clean up the mess. "I'm not sure I want to say, exactly," Danny said, crossing his arms over his chest. "After all, you guys did attack me on first sight. I know I was trespassing but those weren't warning shots being fired at me back there, I know the difference."

Dumbledore looked down clasping his hands in front of him. "I do apologize for the actions of my staff. We, our world, is currently experiencing troubling times and many people are on edge."

“Oh?” Danny asked, thinking back to the accusation of being connected to someone. “Does this have anything to do with that guy the other guy mention? Voldewort?”

James Potter and the other one that had poked Danny’s leg snorted, then laughed outright, only to be smacked by the red headed woman, Lily.

“What? It’s funny!” James said, flinching away from the woman.

“This is serious,” Lily said, with a deep frown.

“No, I’m Sirius,” the man with the longer black hair grinned only to get smacked again.

“Voldemort,” Dumbledore corrected, bringing everyone back to focus on the conversation. “And yes. It does have something to do with him. I take it you’ve never heard of him.”

Danny shook his head, then grimaced. This was becoming more complicated and Danny had a sinking feeling it would lead to Danny’s involvement more than he was willing to commit. Perhaps it was better to come clean, in a vague sort of way. “Look, I’m not actually from your world. I’ve been exploring a pocket dimension that has portals opening up to any number of worlds. My own world doesn’t have magic like you do here, at least I’ve never seen it. Plus all of our ghosts are like me. Trust me, they’re two completely different places.”

“Excellent,” Dumbledore beamed. “You must have come quite a way. You’re more than welcome to stay the night.” Several of the people in the room spun to stare at the old headmaster.

Danny looked at the old man with a narrowed gaze. “In return for what?”

“Nothing,” Dumbledore said with an innocent smile, “except, perhaps, for the chance to interact with a being from another dimension. Much magical speculation has gone into the possibility of other worlds, dimensions, planes of existence, yet we have had no proof of the possibility until now.”

“You’re curious,” Danny summed up, sitting back in the air, arms crossed over his chest.

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded, “I am immensely curious.”

Well, Danny could certainly relate to that. He glanced at his watch, pulling up the timer counting down to when the portal would destabilize. He still had another sixty hours, probably, and he didn’t really need to be back to school for another couple of days. No one would miss him. Plus, when was the next time he’d get a chance to explore an honest to goodness magic castle? “Alright,” he nodded slowly, “I’ll stick around for a day or two as long as you let me pet the phoenix.”

**TBC…**


	2. A Potential Ally

**Chapter 2: A Potential Ally**

“Albus, are you insane? Inviting that creature to stay here?” Moody let his opinion be known as soon as Danny was out of sight and earshot, escorted by Minerva McGonagall to his room. At least, they thought the creature was out of earshot. There was really no way to tell with an unknown magical creature, which was why Moody had put up a privacy charm around the office.

Sirius couldn’t entirely blame the senior auror, these were dangerous times and Voldemort’s ranks were swollen with even more dark creatures than dark wizards. Still, Moody tended toward paranoia. If they really wanted to get any creatures on their side, they couldn’t just go around assuming all unknown creatures worked for Voldemort. That was the quickest way to drive potential allies into the arms of Voldemort’s ranks.

“Alastor,” Dumbledore said, “you jump to conclusions with that boy. I believe he is being entirely truthful with us, if reserving some of the details to himself. He is not a threat unless we make him to be one.” Dumbledore snapped his fingers and a large setting sandwiches appeared as well as another pot of tea, enough for everyone. Several of them collected tea and settled into chairs. The sun had set and the natural light had died, replaced by the glow of candles and lamps.

After Danny had agreed to stay the night, he had wanted to see some magic, or in the boy’s own terms, “actual living people’s magic.” Apparently, the boy’s experience with magic dealt almost entirely with a variety of ghost magic that Sirius couldn’t even begin to imagine and half their group didn’t believe. The demonstration of various basic spells along with questions and explanations felt more like an intro to magic class than anything else and small side conversations broke out through the room as Order members lost some interest. No one left, however, retaining enough curiosity and suspicion to remain.

Then, Danny, either ignorant or more likely ignoring the continued attention of the entire room, played with Fawkes for at least half an hour. The bird remained surprisingly tolerant of the entire affair. Sirius didn’t know much about phoenices* in general, but he did know that Fawkes was a good judge of character. The fact that Danny’s reaction to both magic and the mythical bird was more in line with a fourteen year old muggle kid than a dangerous creature bent on harm also lent credence to Danny’s sincerity in Sirius’s opinion.

McGonagall had finally led Danny away when the boy yawned surprising everyone with the show of fatigue despite his continued insistence that he was a ghost. Danny admitted his own time zone was several hours ahead of the current time in Scotland and that he’d appreciate a room to get some rest, only adding to the mystery surrounding the self-proclaimed ghost.

“Leaving out too many details,” Moody growled pacing across the room.

“Well, do you blame him?” Sirius asked settling down in one of the squishy chairs with a sandwich wedge. “He was attacked by one of the teachers.”

“Quite possibly the first wizard he’s ever met and they attack him without so much as a ‘who goes there?’” Remus shook his head, shoulders drooped as he turned his cup around in his grasp.

Moody jerked his head in stubborn denial. “He was attacked while trespassing, hardly unreasonable,” he pressed, unrelenting.

“He’s just a kid, must be what? Seventeen? Eighteen?” Sirius said and turned to James. “How many times did we go places we weren’t supposed to at that age?”

“Far too often,” Lily rolled her eyes, even as James nodded his head, half chagrined, half proud by the look of his lopsided grin. “Not that you do any differently now. It’s only been a few years.”

Love really did have a way of changing a man, Sirius thought as he watched James wrap his arms around his wife from their position on a magically expanded chair.

“And you lot could have done well to get a few stunners thrown in your face, too,” Moody growled.

Professor McGonagall slipped back into the room. “The boy was more tired than he appeared. I put him in the guest chamber just down the hall and placed an additional alarm on his room. If he leaves it we’ll know.” She fixed herself some tea and drew up a straight backed chair.

Moody paced to Dumbledore. “Keeping that boy here is too much of a risk. This is one of the few places secure enough to hold Order meetings. How is it that he just happened to appear on the same night as one of those meetings?”

Everyone in the Order shifted uncomfortably. The few remaining Hogwarts teachers who were members of the Order had returned to hear the details of the interview. Not only was Hogwarts one of their few trusted meeting places, there was also the matter of the students, only just recently gone for the summer holidays. Allowing anyone access to the castle that could plant something harmful, be it curse, creature, or dangerous artifact, was a risk no one could discount.

“The room he is staying in is heavily spelled,” Dumbledore said, serious but apparently unconcerned, “If he attempts to leave or do anything untoward we will know of it and be able to counter the move.”

“You want him to join us don’t you?” Lily said, more of a statement than as question. She stared at the headmaster, expression fierce and eyes hard with the memory of too many close misses, “To fight Voldemort. Ghost or not, he’s just a boy.”

Dumbledore nodded, his gaze heavy as he surveyed Lily. Then his eyes flickered to James, Sirius, Remus, all of the younger members of the Order and it struck Sirius that Dumbledore, as old as he was, probably still considered all of them little more than children.

“He’s of age,” Dumbledore said, voice steady and the brief impression Sirius had a moment before faded. “Granted, he’s just barely of age, but he is of age.”

“He’s fought in battles before, too,” Moody grunted and all eyes turned to him again. Moody looked at them, and then scowled at their lack of observation. “Didn’t you see how he cased this place? Took note of where everyone stood, all exits and entrances. He did the same in the stairwell. Oh he might have seemed innocent enough, but the way he held himself? That boy has seen more battles than you lot, I’d wager. Which is just one more reason why keeping him here is a mistake.”

“He is not evil, Alastor,” Dumbledore said with absolute conviction. “And if we can convince him to join our cause he could be a powerful ally. He stays.” Dumbledore sat down at his desk in an unmistakable sign that the conversation on their guest was over. “Now, I believe we have other matters to discuss during our meeting.”

* * *

The next morning, Danny floated along the corridor only half sure of the direction back to the main staircase, twisting and turning in the air as he took in all the sights. It wasn’t a dream. He’d spent the night in a magic castle with live paintings, invisible helpers that tidied the room when you weren’t looking, mirrors that commented on the state of your hair, and a dozen other things that he never would have dreamed existed or were possible.

The stern looking witch, Professor McGonagall, had brought him to the room with a doubtful frown, but Danny forgot her uncertainty about a ghost who could get tired in light of where he’d be staying the night. The room they’d given him was simultaneously luxurious and worn with age. The wooden furniture and stone walls had carvings that were probably older than most modern countries. Tapestries hung from the walls showing depictions of medieval wizards and witches performing magic and magical creatures romping in forests, most of which moved. Though it looked almost as ancient as the castle, the four-poster bed was more comfortable than Danny’s at home. With a sweeping view over the lake and down to the forest, Vlad’s Wisconsin castle had nothing on this place.

Danny had made a few temporary adjustments to the room, naturally. He set up a portable human and ghost shield he’d brought as part of his traveling gear. It was only big enough to cover the bed, but that was all he needed. He made sure the door was locked and barricaded with one of the heavy chairs and when he was ready to sleep, covered all the windows and the mirror. Then, after a short meal of the food he’d brought along just in case, he snuggled into bed, backpack laying right next to him and only changing to human once the covers were over his head.

Now, awake, refreshed, and all of his gear repacked in the backpack on his shoulders, Danny was ready to explore some more. He turned the corner and pulled up short. There, in front of him, must be the ghosts the wizards had mentioned. _Huh_ , Danny thought, his ghost sense hadn’t gone off at all. Maybe it was because these ghosts were too weak to trigger it? But even the weakest ghosts from back home triggered his ghost sense.

There were two of them floating in the hallway, pearly white and translucent. They were speaking amongst themselves, but noticed Danny’s appearance after only a moment. They turned and stared. Danny slowly drifted closer, looking them up and down. They were definitely ghosts, but so drained of their ectoplasm that it was a miracle they still existed.

“My word, who are you?” one ghost with clothing reminiscent of Shakespeare’s time asked.

“ _What_ are you?” the other one, a fat friar asked.

Danny smiled. At least these guys wouldn’t attack him at a drop of a hat, probably, and even if they did he could take them easily. “I’m a ghost, like you,” he said, “Name’s Danny.”

“I’m not sure what you are, young man, but you’re certainly no ghost,” the ruffled one said.

“Am too,” Danny replied.

“You are not,” the ghost said, drawing up to his full height, indignant.

The fat friar grinned at the exchange while the tall ruffled one huffed in exasperation.

“Good to know you’re mature,” an amused voice came from behind Danny.

Danny turned around to find one of the men from the previous day, Sirius they’d called him, striding up the hall.

“They started it,” Danny said, rocking back on his heels even though he was floating a foot above the floor.

Sirius grinned. “Sirius Black,” he said extending a hand, “We were never formally introduced yesterday.”

“Nice to meet you,” Danny said, not bothering with his name as he shook Sirius’s hand.

From the intrigued look on Sirius’s face, Danny guessed the only reason for the introduction was so he could try shaking Danny’s hand. He dropped it after a moment, though, so Danny refrained from commenting. “We’re having breakfast down in the Great Hall if you want to join us. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have to eat…”

Sirius’s comment faded away as Danny’s stomach gave a loud rumble at the mention of breakfast. Danny’s meal from the night before had barely been above cold camping food standards, and left a lot to be desired. Plus, if they weren’t expecting him to join the meal they wouldn’t have a chance to drug it, like that stupid zoo keeper.

“Breakfast sounds amazing, actually,” Danny said, enjoying the look of surprise on the wizard’s face. In each new world, if he encountered anyone, Danny had to make the choice on whether he would reveal the two sides of his nature. Considering how the wizards had attacked first and asked questions later, Danny had made the determination last night that it was better to keep his human half hidden from this group. Still, these wizards seemed to know so little about ghosts, he could probably ascribe any inconsistencies they noticed with the fact that he was a different type of ghost. “Shall we?” Danny gestured for the man to lead the way.

“Of course,” Sirius said, shooting one last surprised look at Danny.

The route down to the Great Hall was twisting and turning, through several staircases and hall ways. Danny was glad he could phase through walls. It’d allow him to navigate more easily if he decided to stay a couple days. Sirius clearly knew the way by heart and Danny vaguely wondered how quickly it took students to learn their way around. Perhaps the teachers gave the freshmen maps?

The Great Hall was definitely impressive, a large stone room with high windows, floating candles, and a ceiling that looked like the sky. The candles were unlit since the rising sun gave more than enough light for the room, but Danny could imagine what it would look like at night, especially with the stars out. He was so busy inspecting the ceiling he ran into the back of the red headed woman from the night before, making both of them startle back.

“Sorry!” Danny said absently, before turn intangible and continuing on his way. He phased through several people before coming to a stop half way through the room. Yup, he had to have dinner in this place once when the stars were out. It was on his bucket list now.

It was only when he realized the previous chatter that had filled the room had ceased and the hall had become completely silent that Danny looked down. Everyone present was staring at him with varying degrees of astonishment, curiosity, and suspicion.

“Sorry,” Danny said again, momentarily confused about why everyone was staring at him but apologizing anyway. “Oh!” he said, realizing that the woman he’d run into was the pregnant one. _Good job, Danny_ , he thought, one pregnant woman in the room and you almost run her over. He zoomed back to her, halting right in front of her and making the woman start again.

James’s hand twitch, but Danny ignored the action. “Sorry about running into you just now. I was a little caught up with,” he gestured to the ceiling. “You know.”

The startled expression left her face and she smile. “That’s… alright. It is amazing, isn’t it?” She glanced up briefly but returned her gaze to Danny.

“Magic, right?” Danny said, not really needing the confirmation but the room was still quiet and everyone was staring at him. Not the ideal situation, considering usually when a whole room stared at Danny it was because: A) he’d done something embarrassing, or B) they were ghost hunters and all heck was about to break loose.

“Though I guess you could set up some holographic projections to create a similar effect,” Danny thought out loud. “I mean they’re doing some amazing things with projection bounced off the air these days. All you really have to do is change the air density in a certain location and you can use that to create the hologram…”

Everyone was still staring at him, Danny noticed, but this time the general expression was confusion.

“Uh,” Danny was starting to get desperate. “Do you mind if I?” He pointed up, looking to the closest person to him, which happened to be Lily.

“Oh, well, I don’t see why not,” she said a smile curling wider.

Danny took the permission and shot up to the ceiling, passing through the illusionary sky like moving through a cloud. Past it was a cathedral ceiling made of stone and wooden beams, impressive in its own right, but nothing compared to the illusion work of the sky masking it from below.

Dumbledore was waiting and everyone was seated, though staring up to the ceiling, when Danny dove back down from the rafters several minutes later.

“Good morning, Danny!” Dumbledore called, wholly unconcerned with Danny’s inspection of the roof.

“’Morning, Albus,” Danny returned and received several dirty looks for the familiarity. Dumbledore beamed, however, so who cared what the others thought?

Now that Danny wasn’t fixated on the ceiling, he noticed the rest of the Great Hall, including the five long tables, four running parallel and one running perpendicular at the head of the hall. Only one of the long tables was set up with silverware for a meal. There were several banners hung up along the wall as well in line with the four long tables. Their group, the teachers and many of the non-teachers, sat around the long table set for a meal. Dumbledore moved aside to make room for Danny where he was sitting in the center. Well, the old man did say he was curious. Danny shrugged, set his backpack down under the seat, and plopped down next to the aging wizard.

“Professors usually have their meals at the high table,” Dumbledore motioned to the one table at the head of the room. “But we have too many of us here for that, I thought it better if we all shared breakfast together.”

“Hmm,” Danny grunted. The explanation seemed more for some of the professors sitting around than for Danny himself.

“What was the ceiling like?” Sirius asked, leaning over a large bowl of oatmeal that had appeared out of nowhere.

Danny, jaw dropping open, was distracted from answering by the enormous spread of breakfast foods that had popped into existence on the table. “Uh,” Danny recovered, “It’s just a ceiling really. The sky is the impressive part.” Danny focused on piling his plate up with food. Being a college student, he didn’t get breakfasts like this very often.

Sirius nodded and focused on his own plate while the rest stared at Danny joining in on their meal.

“You eat?” Lily asked, smacking James’s hand away as he tried to load food on her plate.

Danny shrugged, careful to be nonchalant about the whole thing. “When I get hungry, same as anyone else.”

“If I had realized as much yesterday evening, I would have ensured there was a cup of tea for yourself as well, my apologies,” Dumbledore said. His eyes were trained on selecting his own meal, but Danny could feel the old man’s attention entirely on Danny.

“That’s alright. I’m not a fan of tea anyway,” Danny smiled and dug into his food. Probably the best breakfast he’d had in a while, but it was a magic castle, so why wouldn’t they have excellent food?

“Not very ghost-like of you, eating and resting,” the dark-haired man that had attacked Danny the day before said, openly glaring at Danny sprinkling salt and pepper on his eggs.

“Because a man who’s only encountered the weakest of ghosts knows anything about the subject,” Danny said with a roll of his eyes. Annoyance was getting the better of him and the one thing Danny couldn’t do was lose his temper, so he tried reign in his frustration and even out his tone. “Look, I saw some of the ghosts you’re familiar with this morning, if that’s the only type of ghost you’ve ever met then it’s understandable that your world has limited knowledge on the subject. I don’t know anything about magic, because magic like this doesn’t exist in my world. I think you’re just going to have to face the fact that you don’t know as much about ghosts as you think you do.”

The dark haired man stiffened. His glare deepened to a scowl. He opened his mouth to reply back but Dumbledore cut off any comment he could make.

“There is very little written on ghosts,” Dumbledore agreed, “Wizards have unfortunately been fairly dismissive on the subject of ghosts, with the one exception being their relationship with the Veil. Perhaps you could enlighten us on your own experience after breakfast?”

Danny had to admit, as far as shut downs went, that was a pretty polite one.

Silence fell in the presence of eating and while only a couple of people were openly staring at Danny as he devoured his bacon, the others kept shooting glances at him. A few side conversations broke out, but they were hushed and didn’t quite break the quiet that settled over the table. It was getting unnerving when Lily finally spoke up again.

“Muggle technology must be advancing quicker than I realized if they’re experimenting with how to create things like holograms. I always thought those things were relegated to science fiction.”

“Well it is the twenty-first century,” Danny said with a shrug, pausing to swallow before he spoke. “Ever since the digital age started, technology’s been advancing like it’s on steroids.” He looked up to find everyone staring at him again. “What now?” he asked. The staring was old when it started.

“It’s 1980, my dear boy,” Albus said in a calm voice.

“Oh,” Danny grimaced then shrugged. “I guess that portal goes through time as well as different dimensions.” He resumed eating, eyeing the various dishes for what he planned to try next. Really, the food here was excellent.

The only one who continued eating was Dumbledore. The rest of the table stared, ignoring their own food, but the looks of astonishment had turned to looks of unease and outright alarm.

“Is there often temporal displacement when traveling between different dimensions?” Dumbledore asked as casual about the topic as if interdimensional time travelers were a weekly occurrence at the school. It was a magic school so that wouldn’t be surprising, but by the mounting horror on many of the teachers’ faces around them, Danny doubted that was the case. Dumbledore, was probably just weird that way.

“Sometimes,” Danny said, sprinkling some more salt over his eggs. “In all honesty, a lot of times it’s difficult to tell because things are so different. Unless it’s obviously another period in history, I might never find out if it’s at an equivalent year. Then again, if it’s not in the same world as my own, it doesn’t quite matter if the years fail to meet up specifically. Time is relative, so how would I know?”

“Most interesting,” Dumbledore said. He leaned back in his seat and tented his hands.

“Albus,” the same dark haired teacher hissed, “He’s talking about meddling with time!”

Danny turned a narrowed glare on the teacher. “I never actually got your name.”

That seemed to pull Dumbledore from his introspection. “Actually, in all the excitement, we forgot about formal introductions. You know myself, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, and Minerva McGonagall. Since there’s so many of us and you all already know Danny, let’s just go around the table.”

There were a lot of them and Danny started to regret inadvertently causing this first-day-of-school-esque round robin introduction that was happening. He tried to keep track of the names and faces. Sturgis Podmore came first. Danny remembered him as one of the people that stuck around when the teachers left. There were a bunch of teachers following that with odd names like Fillius, Harken, Alwight, and Marren, none of which he had a hope of remembering.

The dark haired teacher introduced himself with a glare and a harsh. “Marcus Helcap, Defense Against Dark Arts Professor. That includes dark creatures.”

Danny didn’t bat an eye at the open hostility, by now expecting it from this man. If the teacher wanted to have a problem with him, that was fine. After Ghost Kings, Fright Knights, ghostly monsters galore, a fruit loop and obsessive billionaire half ghost, and Danny’s own corrupted self, an angry teacher held very little impact for him. It drove his college professors nuts.

After Helcap came a short woman called Dorcas Meadowes, whom Danny felt sorry for with a name like Dorcas. Then, also part of the group that weren’t teachers, Frank and Alice Longbottom who Danny could remember by the sheer fact that their names were normal. The same could be said for a rat-faced man called Peter Pettigrew. Remus Lupin he recognized as one of the four that braved walking near him after their initial encounter. Plus the scars were difficult to forget. Then Rubeus Hagrid was the giant and that alone was pretty unforgettable.

Danny waved when all the introductions were finished, glad it was over and resigning himself to just asking people if their name got lost in his memory after this point. Or he could just not worry about it since he wasn’t going to spending long in this world and was unlikely to return.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Helcap said through clenched teeth. “Can we return to the fact that this boy has just admitted to traveling through time, something which is extremely dangerous, not to mention highly illegal.” His hands curled into fists and his knuckles turned white as he spoke.

“Illegal according to your laws,” Danny said, leisurely picking another piece of sausage from the platter near him. He put it in his mouth like a cigar as he poured himself some more juice. He’d never had it before, but it tasted a little like pumpkins. Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet.

“Excuse me?” Helcap’s gaze narrowed, very close to seething.

“It’s illegal according to your laws,” Danny repeated. “Just because something is illegal in one place doesn’t mean it’s illegal in another. It might be illegal for you guys to go back in time and it might even be illegal for me in this world to go back in time, but it’s not illegal for someone in the Ghost Zone to go back in time, or in my own world, for that matter. So considering I time travelled not in your world, but in my own and other worlds, I fail to see how I’ve broken any rules in this world.”

Danny grinned, munching on the sausage and decidedly pleased with himself. That logic, speeches, and debates class he’d taken last semester had paid off, he thought. Initially, he took it with the notion that it might help him with Vlad’s verbal webs the man liked to weave, but this was a benefit, too. Certainly seeing the teacher turn an off shade of purple as he sputtered for a reply was well worth it.

“That does not change the fact that traveling through time is exceedingly dangerous,” McGonagall said. She had the exact look of a teacher that was disappointed in her student, and while Danny could handle anger very well, disappointment was a little more difficult.

Nodding, Danny pushed against his seat sitting a little straighter. “Yes, traveling through time is and can be dangerous, but that doesn’t mean it has to be. Sometimes it’s what needs to happen in the first place or is a part of the original timeline. I met this guy, called himself the Doctor, though he never actually told me his real name. He was a time traveler, too, and the way he described it,” Danny scrunched his face as he remembered the odd phrasing the man used, “time is less a strict progression of linear cause and effect and more a big ball of timey-wimey stuff. Literally his words,” Danny said at the many raised eye brows to the verbiage. When the faces around him showed no signs of understanding Danny tried to simplify with a shrug, “Sometimes time travel is actually part of the origin sequence of events.”

This was good. If these wizards had more of a problem with Danny’s time travel and less with his existential existence, then maybe he could gain a couple allies. Or at the very least part on friendly enough terms so he would be able to come back and visit for dinner when he didn’t feel like cooking.

“I know the dangers, trust me. But it’s not as bad as you would think and the Ghost Zone has the added benefit of almost always having a way to fixing major mistakes in the timeline.” Danny refrained from mentioning that way was named Clockwork. The wizards really didn’t need to know that.

The grumblings around the table told Danny he hadn’t convinced many people, but Dumbledore look introspective and he seemed to be the one in charge, so that’s what really matter Danny guessed.

Breakfast disappeared the same way it had arrived, suddenly and with a slight pop. As various people stood up mumbling about having to get home or to work, Danny realized many of them had probably stayed or come back because of their curiosity about Danny. The first few leaving caused a mass scrapping of chairs as everyone stood and parted on their own way. Danny wondered if he shouldn’t be getting back to the portal himself when Dumbledore offered a tour of the castle.

A guided tour of a magical castle from a wizard that looked like Merlin himself? How could Danny turn that down?

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I found a couple different ways to pluralize phoenix so I went with the Latin.


	3. The Proposition

**Chapter 3: The Proposition**

By the time Danny and Dumbledore came down the stairs to the Great Hall and brought their tour to a close, nearly five hours later, Danny was convinced of several things. The primary two being magic was simultaneously awesome in every sense of the word and disturbing, also in every sense of the word. All the power that came with having magical abilities and those wizards were worried about Danny’s short trips around the timelines of various dimensions? That story of the legendary Chamber of Secrets alone made him raise his eyebrows at the misuse of power and position. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

The other thing Danny was fairly certain of was that Dumbledore had an ulterior motive in inviting Danny to stay the night. Granted Danny had that impression from the start, but now he was much more certain of it. There was a theme in the stories Dumbledore told about the castle, even in the one with the creepy secret chamber supposedly under the school. It was all light against dark, good against evil, right against wrong, all things Danny could fully understand. He’d been preaching them to Vlad for enough years that sometimes even he got tired of hearing about it. Still, there was another shoe here and Danny was waiting for it to drop.

By the end of the tour Danny thought the better course of action was to just lay their cards on the table. “I’m detecting a definite theme in all this, so what are you working up to?” Danny asked, folding his arms over his chest and cocking his head. “There’s got to be something.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled. “I’m glad you asked. Perhaps we could discuss it in my office?”

Danny gestured for the old man to lead the way. He may have spent the last five hours wandering around what seemed like miles of castle corridors, but Danny had no delusions that he actually knew how to get around the place. Dumbledore nodded and headed right back up the stairs to the statue and revolving staircase.

When they settled into Dumbledore’s office, just the two of them this time, Dumbledore sat down behind his desk tenting his hands with an expression more serious than Danny had seen yet. He observed Danny for a few moments as Danny again took off his back pack and pulled up his own chair.

“You remember we mentioned last night that our world was going through a difficult time,” Dumbledore began.

Danny nodded, but remained silent, waiting.

Dumbledore continued. “These troubles are primarily caused by a man self-named Lord Voldemort. He is a fanatic that believes those with magic are superior to those without. He has made it his goal to control the wizarding world and eliminate all connections with the muggles or the muggle world. He and his followers, known as Death Eaters, regularly target, attack, and kill witches and wizards that are from muggle families or have a parent from a muggle family.”

“They sound like Nazis,” Danny said with a deep frown.

“That is an apt comparison, yes,” Dumbledore agreed with a short nod. “I and a number of others have pledged ourselves to fight Voldemort and his followers, however we are always in search of allies in this fight.”

There was the other shoe. It clicked in Danny’s head probably later than it should have, but he saw it now and that’s what mattered. “You want me to help you fight against this Voldemort guy.”

Dumbledore gave a slow single nod. “Yes, that is what I am asking.”

Shifting in his seat, Danny grimaced. “Look, it’s flattering that you think I can help,” he started. It really was flattering considering all the things he had seen magic capable of over the course of the tour and the fact that all these wizards had seen of his abilities consisted of the most benign belonging to any decent ghost, just flying, switching between tangibility and intangibility, and then invisibility. “But all I have right now is your word that this stuff is going on and in the way you describe. I don’t know anything about you or your world. War is serious, deathly serious, and I can’t get involved without knowing the full story. Plus there’s the minor fact that I have my own life back in my own world. I have family, friends, obligations, not to mention classes. I can’t just abandon those things to fight in your war. There’s no telling if I’d even be able to find my way back to this portal or this world again. The Ghost Zone is finicky with things like that.”

Dumbledore nodded again leaning forward onto his desk. “I am aware that what I am asking is difficult, perhaps impossible, but at least consider it. You have the opportunity to protect innocent lives and help our entire world avoid the grasp of a vicious tyrant. I may have only met you yesterday, but I get the sense that these are things which you value.”

Well this Dumbledore guy certainly had his number right. Danny sighed, running a hand over his face. “I can’t make any promises and I won’t make any decisions right now, but…” He shook his head wondering what he was getting himself into with all this. War _was_ serious business. People died, innocent and guilty people alike. He’d had his first taste of war when Pariah Dark invaded his home town. Thankfully, no one had died during the incident, but for those few moments right before Danny managed to put the Ghost King back into the sarcophagus, he’d thought he was going to die. Since then Danny had experienced other glimpses into warfare, including the terrifying encounter with his alternate self and everything that followed. Danny was not looking to get involved in another war.

But could Danny stand back while innocent people died? That was the bigger question, really. The notion plucked at his ghostly obsession. Protecting people had become one of his driving motivators as Danny Phantom. It was compulsive, perhaps not as extreme as the Box Ghost’s obsession or any other full ghosts that he had met, but it was more than just normal desire or motivation.

“I’ll think about it,” Danny eventually said. Sam, Jazz, and Tucker were going to kill him for this. “I want to get a sense for what’s going on not from hearsay and I’ll want to know exactly what you’d want me to do before I agree to anything, but…I will think about it.

Dumbledore smiled a small, sad expression. “Thank you,” he said. “That’s all I can ask.”

“This is all still contingent on if I can even find my way back here,” Danny said, determined to make it abundantly clear how irregular some portals in the Ghost Zone could be. “It’s not uncommon for portals to drift around or disappear altogether.”

The light of interest at something so new sparked in Dumbledore’s eyes again, tempered by concern. “You wouldn’t become trapped here, I hope.”

Danny waggled his hand, scrunching up his face. “It’s a possibility, yes, but unlikely. I can usually force open a recently closed portal into the Ghost Zone if I have to and know where it was, but trying to force open a new portal from the Ghost Zone into another dimension is usually extremely difficult.”

“Very good,” Dumbledore said. The light hearted smile returned, if only slightly dimmed after the serious discussion. Standing up from his desk, Dumbledore moved to the door and led the way out. “Well you are more than welcome to stay as long as you please. Explore the castle and the grounds. Just be aware that not all things are perfectly safe. Some of the major dangers are warded to prevent students from coming in too close in contact with them, but I have little understanding of how those wards would affect you. The forest around the school particularly is filled with dangerous creatures.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I really do need to be getting home. I’ve got homework.” Danny grimaced, even after this welcomed diversion, the algebra still remained, waiting to torture him.

“Understandable,” Dumbledore smiled, keeping silent on the conundrum of why a ghost would be taking classes. “Do you remember the way back to your portal?”

Danny nodded and slung his pack onto one shoulder. That was one thing he was always very careful about. “If you really want to gain my trust, you won’t follow me back to it, either.”

Dumbledore chuckled. “I promise I will not, though catching a glimpse into another world entirely is sorely tempting.”

The two descended the stairs to the entrance hall again only this time they were hardly alone. Marcus Helcap was there waiting by the two large doors. He turned when he heard Dumbledore’s steps on the stairs. Dumbledore frowned.

“Marcus,” Dumbledore said, disappointment in his voice and making Helcap twitch, just before a loud knock echoed on the front door.

Helcap turned and pulled open the door revealing another man, one Danny hadn’t seen before, but from the look of the robes he wore and the wand at his side, Danny guessed the man was also a wizard. The man stepped in saying, “Well, where is it?” his question cut off short, though, as he looked up and saw Danny hovering next to Dumbledore now standing on the floor of the entrance hall.

“That’s it, I assume, the undocumented creature?” the stranger said, addressing everyone in the room but Danny.

Danny bristled at the term of address and narrowed his eyes at the complete disregard to Danny’s presence. It was too reminiscent of his parents and many other ghost hunters’ attitude toward ghosts. At least, his parents had mellowed out over the years and the mountainous evidence showing Danny Phantom to be a non-threat to humans, even if Danny had never actually gotten the courage to tell them the truth.

The man stepped up to Dumbledore and introduced himself. “Elijah Renalds of the Department for Control of Magical Creatures, Dangerous and Unknown Creature Section.” He held up an ID for Dumbledore to see, but put it away as Danny tried to lean over and get a closer look. “I received a report that you had a dangerous, possibly dark, and unknown creature here on the premises.”

Dumbledore clasped his hands before him and cocked his head in a mildly confused manner. “I’m afraid there’s been some mistake,” Dumbledore said, “We have no such creature on the premises.” His gaze flickered to Helcap and Danny couldn’t help but notice there was no twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes.

Someone was in trouble and Helcap seemed to know it, flinching and shrinking a little at the look.

“Then what do you call that?” Renalds gestured to Danny floating a little above their heads.

“That is my guest, Mr. Danny Phantom.” Dumbledore’s tone was pleasant, mild even, but there was steel underneath it and an unspoken warning.

Renalds frowned, his round, scarred face crumpling like a piece of paper in confusion. “Professor Dumbledore, that thing clearly isn’t human. If it’s an undocumented creature it needs to be registered and taken in for tests. Once it is fully documented, registered, and its lethality is determined then it will be released back into the wild, so long as it’s not an illegally created creature.”

Danny’s jaw dropped open. This magic world thing was turning pretty sour pretty fast. He scowled, fists clenching at his sides. “I beg your pardon? Documented? Registered? _Tests_? Who do you think you are?” Danny hadn’t avoided most forms of experimentation for the past six years only to have this knuckle head take him in for a magical version of one of his worst nightmares.

Renalds looked up in surprise. “Oh, it talks. Good,” he nodded, “That will make the tests go easier since we’ll be able to pair them with interviews.”

“I believe you’re suffering under some misconception, Mr. Renalds.” Dumbledore gave a disarming smile, but that steel was still there, Danny noted with relief. “Mr. Phantom is most certainly not an undocumented creature. He is a ghost and ghosts are a widely known and documented phenomenon.”

Frowning again, Renalds lifted up his wand pointing it at Danny. Danny jerked backwards, fists tightening even more. He only just prevented himself from slipping into a defensive stance by reminding himself that appearing dangerous would not help his case. After seeing what magic could do in the school, Danny was hesitant to go toe to toe with a fully trained wizard. Sure, Danny would have the advantage, but for how long?

If Renalds noticed the motion he didn’t show it as he looked over a series of symbols that appeared in the air before him. Dumbledore, however, did notice and made a small hand gesture for Danny to remain calm. At least, that’s what Danny thought the gesture meant. Meanwhile, Renalds continued to frown at the symbols.

“These do indicate he’s something similar to a ghost, but half of these readings don’t make sense!” Renalds huffed. He slipped his wand into his sleeve before pulling out a book of protocol from a pocket that appeared much too small to hold the book. He mumbled to himself as he flicked through the pages, brow furrowed in concentration.

Dumbledore turned slightly and caught Danny’s eye, winking in the faintest movement. Danny relaxed a little. At least this guy didn’t seem to be out for blood. He seemed more like a tired bureaucrat than the ghost hunters out to capture the illusive Ghost Boy that Danny was accustomed to dealing with back home.

They waited for Renalds to find the specific protocol for their specific situation, Helcap all the while growing increasingly frustrated, tapping his foot and glaring at Renald’s back. Then Danny heard it, the faint barking of a puppy that he knew all too well.

“Oh not now,” Danny muttered and a moment later, the familiar form of Cujo, the comeback pup, burst through the large front doors, barking excitedly and bounding his way to Danny.

What happened next occurred too fast for Danny to ever remember the correct order. Helcap and Renalds both jumped whipping out their wands at the sudden appearance of the startling neon-green dog. Renalds dove to the side out of the way of the enthusiastic puppy even as Helcap shot off a bolt of energy directed at Cujo. Dumbledore flicked his wand and a shield appeared in front of Cujo, but Danny had already dove to protect the puppy forming his own hasty shield in reply.

Danny’s shield stopped the brunt of the attack only allowing a small portion of the energy bolt through. Still, it was enough to violently throw Danny back into the wall in a burst of pain. He hit his head in a second explosion of pain followed by a moment of disorientation. Concussions were the worst, he thought dimly, mostly because bad concussions had a way of making him lose hold of his powers and turn human again. Looking down, Danny groaned when he realized that is precisely what happened.

The sound of deep, angry growling roused Danny a little more. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and turned, finding Cujo standing over him protectively in full attack form. Helcap and Renalds had their wands out and stood in defensive postures, Renald’s protocol book lay abandoned on the floor, floating symbols before him again.

“It doesn’t make sense!” Renalds cried, face sheet white, “That is definitely a ghost, but it’s…it has more power than I’ve ever seen in a ghost.”

Dumbledore had both his hands up in a calming gesture inching around the large, angry green dog. Cujo growled at him while tracking the old wizard’s progress, but apparently decided Dumbledore was not the threat and let the wizard pass.

“Are you alright, Danny?” Dumbledore asked, kneeing down to check Danny’s head.

Danny dimly noted large and steady drops of red blood splashing down on his shirt, jeans, and floor. He shook his head, and immediately regretted the motion. It seemed not shaking your head after receiving a blow to it was a lesson Danny was going to have to learn time and again. “I’m fine,” he said swaying to one side.

Dumbledore’s hand steadied him while Danny climbed to his feet. He looked up at the two other wizards, still facing off with Cujo and recognized the moment Helcap had decided to do something about the large snarling dog.

“No!” Danny cried, throwing himself out of Dumbledore’s grip and in front of Cujo, placing himself between the ghost dog and the two wizards. The world spun in crazy arcs and Danny just barely managed to keep his feet under him. “He’s just a puppy!”

“A _puppy_?” Helcap snarled. “ _That_ monster?”

“You scared him!” Danny responded, “He was protecting me!” Danny turned and wrapped his arms around the large dog’s neck, as much for balance as to calm the puppy down. “It’s ok, Cujo. I’m alright, boy,” Danny said ignoring the wizards behind him.

Dumbledore was ordering the men to drop their wands anyway.

“That boy, Dumbledore!” Renalds exclaimed, voice wavering with disbelief bordering on hysterics, “He’s alive! He’s human! That’s impossible!”

“It’s ok, boy,” Danny kept up his litany of reassurances, finally feeling the growls fade to wines and the immense guard dog shrink back into a puppy again. “I’m alright, you’re alright, we’re both alright.”

Cujo didn’t completely believe Danny if the frightened wines and attempts to lick Danny’s head wound were any indication, but at least he wasn’t in attack mode any longer. Instead, Cujo had shrunk and climbed up into Danny’s arms. Danny kept hold of him, hoping it would forestall any additional transformations and cause another overreaction. He turned and glared at Helcap, frown deepening as Cujo whimpered at the sight of the wizard.

“What is that monster?” Helcap growled, wand down but still gripped tight and ready to bring to bear.

“He’s just a ghost,” Danny replied with equal venom, “And he’s just a puppy.”

“That _thing_ is dangerous,” Helcap respond, face pale with anger. “That’s no ghost! It’s a dark creature, a monster.”

“Oh yeah?” Danny took a step closer, his arms wrapped around a shivering Cujo, but stopped when Dumbledore made a halting gesture and his own dizziness caused the hall to tilt a bit. “And what am I?”

“Some kind of half-breed monster with him,” Helcap snapped. He only seemed to register what he said after the fact, glancing at the headmaster’s stony face before glaring down at the floor in front of him.

There was silence in the hall for a long heartbeat. Danny fought to control his temper, partly because letting his eyes turn acid green when he was in human form would only be considered evidence for Helcap’s accusation, but also because the angrier he became the more the blood pounded in his head and the greater his headache grew. Finally getting a cap on the swirling emotion, Danny heaved a deep sigh.

“Well, Professor Dumbledore,” Danny said, eyes still on Helcap and the speechless Renalds, “I guess I have my answer on what type of place your world is.”

The old headmaster held out his hands in entreaty as he stepped between Helcap and Danny. “Danny, you’ll find prejudice and misunderstanding wherever human beings exist. It’s part of our flawed nature. It does not mean all people are like that, or even that an individual will always remain so.”

Danny felt the last meaningful anger drain from his body and his shoulders slumped. Dumbledore was right. Danny had seen his fair share of both the good and bad in people and even some people turn a new leaf when they made the choice to do so. Still, this wizarding world was proving to be a complicated, similar to the Ghost Zone. At least ghosts had almost fixed natures. Humans could change, drastically and suddenly. This place was simply too complicated for Danny to be throwing himself into the fight without understanding it better.

“You’re right,” Danny said. “But this is obviously a more complicated situation than I initially thought. I don’t think it would be right for me to get involved. It’s probably best if I just go home.”

Dumbledore closed his eyes a moment, before nodding his head. “It is your decision, of course. If you change your mind or wish to simply visit you’ll always be welcome here at Hogwarts. I would be very interested in hearing about your travels.”

Danny’s gaze flickered to Helcap standing almost out of sight behind Dumbledore.

“Never fear,” the headmaster said, “Now that the school year is over, I believe some changes to the staff are due.”

Helcap stiffened, face turning red and still glaring at the flagstones.

Danny’s lips twitched. “I should get going.”

“At least, let us tend your injury,” Dumbledore said, but Danny declined.

“It’s alright. I can manage.” Danny, a little steadier on his feet than moments before, bent down and picked up his discarded bag. He moved to the door, Dumbledore following him and opening the heavy wooden door for Danny.

“You know,” Danny said so only the old wizard could hear as he stood on the threshold, eyes flicking to Helcap, “Earlier you made it sound like the main problem your world had was that Voldemort guy. I’m not an expert in your world, but if I were to make a guess, I’d say he sounds like he’s only a symptom.”

Dumbledore sighed, a heavy sound that seemed to drag the old man down like a weight on his shoulders. “I’m afraid that fight is the much longer and more difficult one. Take care of yourself, Danny, and do come back to visit any time.” Dumbledore held out his hand and Danny, shifting a squirming Cujo in his arms, took it in a parting handshake.

“Thanks for having me as a guest. Good luck with your fight.” Then, Danny turned and exited the wizarding world for what he fully expected was the last time. Yeah, putting a hand up to his throbbing head and feeling the sluggish flow still oozing down, he was definitely keeping this little adventure to himself.

**::The End...Maybe::**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everybody stuck in lock down is doing alright and this will help alleviate any boredom! Thanks for reading!


End file.
